Qatari Diar plans carbon sequestration project

Doha, December 8, 2012

Qatari Diar Construction’s (QDVC) has signed an agreement with Creocean, a leading environmental engineering consultancy specialising in coastal and marine environment and oceanography, to set up a major carbon sequestration project in the country.

The move comes as part of Qatari Diar's commitment to sustainable development, said a senior official.

“We are very proud to announce the collaboration with Creocean on algae carbon sequestration. We believe that our initiative will attract more companies to join us,” remarked Sheikha Athba Al Thani, the chief support services and sustainable development manager of QDVC, after signing the deal.

"With support and consultation from Creocean, this initiative will start with an analysis of the brown algae belonging to the species Hormophysa cuneiformis in the North West of Qatar with the aim of determining to what degree this type of algae will be able to effectively capture CO2," she noted.

This phase began in early December and will continue for 10 weeks.

In 2009, QDVC began calculating its fleet CO2 production and determined that over the past three years around 8,000 tonnes of CO2 have been produced. Plans are now in place to offset these emissions through the new algae carbon sequestration project.

Edouard Horlin, the regional manager of Creocean, said, “I’m very happy to initiate this project with QDVC because of its innovation and the scientific knowledge it will bring to Qatar and therefore possibly play a role in decreasing the CO2 emissions from various projects in Qatar.”

In line with Qatar’s National Vision 2030, the company has implemented a series of strategies to reduce its environmental impact. These include efficient waste management, green procurement methods, optimization of its fleet, promoting clean technologies, and effective uses of critical resources such as water.-TradeArabia News Service